Chat with a retired FAA guy at the diner made me double check my work

I was grabbing a coffee at the Skyway Diner near the airport yesterday and got talking to this older guy, Bill, who used to be an FAA inspector. He said something that stuck with me: 'You know, most of the write-ups I saw weren't from broken boxes, but from techs rushing the paperwork and missing a simple step.' He told me about a case where a comms issue was just a loose BNC connector someone signed off as 'checked.' Now I'm going back over my last three jobs, especially the Garmin G500 install I finished Friday. How do you guys make sure you don't get complacent with the routine checks?

3 comments

3 Comments

rowan_roberts491mo ago

Rushing paperwork is sometimes the only way to meet deadlines on the line. A loose connector found later is still found, and the system works. Overthinking every step can paralyze production without making things safer.

the_evan19d ago

Yeah but a loose connector can absolutely start a fire though! That's not overthinking, that's basic safety. I've seen a bad connection melt a whole harness on a piece of equipment before. Finding it later isn't the same as preventing the problem in the first place. Rushing now just means more work fixing it later, or worse, someone gets hurt.

hugo_schmidt1mo ago

Yeah but that loose connector could have caused a fire.